I got my black belt in Hapkido, can you recommend a 2nd style?

Question

Hapkido, is a Korean style martial art. I am not trying to give you a history lesson. I am just wondering if you could recommend any second style of martial arts training possibly different that I might enjoy. I have also studied Kendo, Shaolin Kempo Karate and Kung Fu in the past so something other than those would be fantastic. I like to move around a lot. Any suggestions?

Answer 1

Well if you have spent time in all of those then you've pretty well have your standing game covered. So I say really mix it up now and go work in something that is going to concentrate on ground fighting. Japanese or Brazilian Jiu Jitsu or Sambo would be my suggestions. Otherwise you are really just learning variations of stuff you have already learned.

Answer 2

My pick is always western boxing.  There is no other sport that will teach the timing that is so necessary to become a truly competent martial artist.

The contact and the speed of boxing is the most useful thing I ever learned.  My standing grappling got better, knife work got better, and even to some extent ground work.

Most will not have the will to participate in boxing and it shows when you spar or fight with those who haven't trained in boxing.  The rest of the world moves at 1/2 speed once you have trained in boxing.

The one thing faster would be stick fighting like the dog brothers...of course that is on an enitire other planet from everything else.

Answer 3

hapkido is a good well rounded art. as only a 1st degree realize youve not exactly mastered it and continue your hapkido training. if you want to crosstrain, think about what it is you think your training's weak point is. if its weapons, choose a weapon specific. if its hand skills, ground skills, etc same thing. but dont stop just cause you think youve hit the ceiling in hapkido, youve just started seriously learning.

Answer 4

Go to bottom for short answer.

This is all strictly my opinion

But if I were you I would move on to becoming the "complete fighter".

Meaning studying supplemental disciplines and/or building upon any weak spots in your fighting. Examples might be Boxing, Kickboxing, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, Muay Thai, Greek Pankration, Sambo, Judo, Ken Do Kai, so on. These can offer travels to Greece, Thailand, America, Russia, Japan, Puerto Rico, Australia and maybe others.

It seems like you enjoy the "art" of martial arts more than most or atleast a belt system. I appreciate that and if that's true I would expand to disciplines like Judo, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, Muay Thai, Hung Gar, Krav Maga, Ninjitsu, Judo-do. These can be studied authentically in Austria, Germany, Australia, Japan, Brazil, China, Israel.

If you need a straight, short answer I would go to Krav Maga or Kickboxing (no belt system for Kickboxing). Krav Maga can be studied in America and elsewhere, but probably more authentically in Israel. Kickboxing can be studied authentically in Europe, North America, Australia, New Zealand, South America, and Thailand.

Good luck.

Answer 5

Aikido, Kempo, Ninjitsu, Mui-Thai Kick boxing, Shaou Lin Kung Fu,

Tai Chi Chuan.

Answer 6

You should supplement with a ground fighting system. Hapkido is a good striking system, in order to really round yourself out and become something special, you should work on your ground game. For both sport and real fighting. BJJ is always a popular option, and effective. Judo is good, but its still a lot more standing than Jiu Jitsu. You could try real non-sport wrestling or shoot fighting.

Answer 7

I won't suggest Japanese jiu-jitsu as Hapkido has got it's roots in Japanese Jiu-jitsu.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hapkido

But if you like to move around a lot I'd suggest Aikido for the evasion aspect.

Best wishes :)***

Answer 8

I think that Brazilian Jiu Jitsu would be the best supplementary style for you at this point in time. From Hapkido you have developed a proficiency in 3 of the 4 ranges of fighting; punching, kicking, and trapping. The next range you will want to get good at would be grappling for ground fighting.

Brazilian Jiu Jitsu is a great, practical grappling style. If you don't have a BJJ school near you, look into Judo, Catch Wrestling, Shootfighting, MMA, JKD, or Sambo, as each of these grappling systems are also good for practical self defense.  

Answer 9

Depends on what you want to do this go-round.  If you want to enhance your Hapkido, I'd recommend Judo.  Many of the concepts are similar (throws, locks, etc.) but many different techniques from what you are familiar with.

If you want to learn something completely different from what you are doing, and that includes a lot of movement Filipino Martial Arts (FMA) might be interesting - the idea is that you attack mainly from angles rather than direct attacks, and they teach "obstacle destruction" rather than "obstacle removal".  For example you block a punch by striking the incoming fist with your elbow while covering your head - or you punch into your attacker's tricep to "block".  FMA also includes knife attack/defense as well as stick fighting - the 2 most useful weapon styles in my opinion.